Early Snow Above and Below

Here's a guest post from Kaitlynn Miller '14, who spent a couple weeks chasing snow in Europe with the Craftsbury Green Racing Project:

I count myself lucky that for the past two years my team and I have been able to get on snow in September and this year was no different. However, instead of just going to Austria for our fall camp, this year we added a weeklong stint in Slovenia skiing in an underground parking garage turned summer ski tunnel. Despite the oddness of our surroundings (think cement walls and fluorescent lights), I actually enjoyed skiing in the tunnel and we had a very productive week focusing primarily on speed and technique. In addition to skiing, we also got out for some running adventures in the surrounding mountains.

Tunneling in Slovenia (photo:  Pepa Miloucheva)

Enjoying some time above ground during a run/hike in the Triglav National Park

 
After wrapping up our speed-focused week in Slovenia, we headed to Austria for a distance block at altitude. This was our third year in a row skiing on the Dachstein glacier and it's safe to say the third time was a charm. We had an incredible streak of weather with eight strait days of sun and stable ski conditions. We skied every morning and then either ran, rollerskied, or did strength in the afternoon. At the conclusion of our eight days in Austria I had trained over 32 hours! Needless to say I was ready for a few days off and some time at home. If you want to read more about the camp and see LOTS more pictures, you can check out my personal blog: kaitlynnmiller.blogspot.com.

 Perfect weather on the Dachstein!

 Attempting some synchronized skiing (photo:  Sam Dougherty)

 Enjoying some nice klister skiing (photo:  Caitlin Patterson)

 Running through an Austrian moonscape

 Even the rollerskiing is scenic in Austria (photo:  Pepa)

Got to go for a hike with friend and Bowdoin alum Stephen Ligtenberg who happened to be passing through Austria on his way to a whitewater race!

Fall Camp 2016

This year, Fall Break coincided with Homecoming, so it was quite a busy weekend for us.  After a nice Saturday rollerski in the Pownal/Pineland area, we hosted the 11th Annual Phil Soule Phlail 5k on Sunday.  Despite rainy weather, we had a solid turnout, with 70 finishers.  We were thrilled to see two former Bowdoin Nordic captains in attendance, Grace Hyndman '11 and Erin Hatton '12 (sadly, I didn't get any pictures).  Great showing by both of them, and Erin actually won the race!  The skiers did a nice job of running things smoothly, and overall it was a very successful event.

A couple hours after the race ended, we were in vans heading for one of our favorite fall camp venues, the Sugarloaf/Bigelow area.  We did a good hard bounding workout up Sugarloaf and were greeted at the peak by howling winds and amazing colors.

After a quick scramble back to the base, we rolled down the road for a short hike up to our lodging, the Stratton Brook Hut.  This is part of the Maine Huts and Trails system - a very cool organization with some fantastic trails and beautiful huts.

Here, we encountered our third former Bowdoin Nordic captain of the weekend - Hannah Marshall '16!  Hannah currently works for MHT at the Flagstaff Hut, but she came over to Stratton Brook to  hang out with us and help the Stratton staff manage our unruly crew.

After a delicious dinner and a sound sleep, we got up to tackle the Bigelow Range the next morning.  In past years, we've run/hiked the whole range, but the location of Stratton Brook Hut made it more logical to start on the east side of the range near Flagstaff, run the whole range except Cranberry, and then work our way back to Stratton.  It was another gorgeous day with some of the best fall colors I've seen in years.  The conditions on the highest peaks (West and Avery) were pretty intense - super windy, frost on the trees, and even some kind of weird hail/sleet/graupel stuff falling out of a mostly clear sky.  The skiers did an amazing job of powering through 18ish rugged miles and four peaks - this a remarkably fit and capable group.

With another tasty dinner, some quality team time in front of a warm fire, and a restful night's sleep, the team was ready to tackle the final workout of camp, an OD classic ski on the legendary Long Falls Dam Rd.  This is a beautiful road through a remote area near the Bigelow Preserve - gorgeous scenery, not much traffic, and surprisingly great pavement.  We worked a little technique and rolled on at a nice brisk clip on another blue sky day.  The team showed great energy even at the tail end of a few very tiring days - an excellent workout to close out a wonderful camp.  Many thanks to H. Marshall and the folks at MHT for making it all possible!

(photos courtesy of Orion Watson and Rachel Zafren)

Fitness Testing 2016

Our 2016-17 season is underway!  I'm still catching up after a busy first few days that included tryouts, Phil Soule Phlail, and Fall Camp.  For starters, here's a recap of our fitness testing results from tryouts:

Penny Rd 5k Classic Time Trial
Cool temps and a fine misting rain made for slow skis - no records broken, but some very nice skiing overall.

Name	Time
Jake	14:20
Sean	15:01
Russell	15:05
Sam	15:16
Ian	15:47
Luca	15:51
Mac	15:53
Orion	16:35	Broken tip
Wil	16:41
Cirque	16:45	Broken tip
Katja	18:46
Rachel	19:10
Fiona	19:51
Ellie	20:15
Lily	21:37

2000m Erg Test
The group showed off some impressive power in this test - Mac, Jake, and Sean all broke the old men's record, and Hannah just missed breaking her own women's record by one second.

Women	Time
Hannah	08:16.7
Ellie	08:52.6
Fiona	09:04.6
Katja	09:05.7
Lily	09:19.1
Rachel	09:21.5
Men	Time
Mac	06:55.2
Jake	07:01.1
Sean	07:03.4
Ian	07:12.5
Orion	07:15.7
Christian	07:24.6
Russell	07:26.6
Sam	07:31.4
Luca	07:44.2
Cirque	07:48.4

Speed/Agility Test

Name	1	2	3	Best 2 of 3
Ian	38	38	38	76
Wil	39	40	39	78
Sean	42	40	40	80
Orion	43	40	41	81
Jake	42	41	43	83
Luca	43	42	42	84
Russell	42	42	42	84
Mac	43	42	43	85
Cirque	43	43	43	86
Sam	46	44	43	87
Fiona	50	50	49	99
Ellie	53	51	51	102
Katja	53	53	52	105
Lily	x	54	52	106
Rachel	55	54	53	107

Morse Mtn Time Trial (1 mile uphill run)
Really an outstanding showing to finish testing - 5 men under 6 minutes!

Women
Fiona	7:11
Rachel	7:28
Lily	7:35
Ellie	7:44
Katja	8:02
Men
Sam	5:40
Mac	5:42
Jake	5:49
Orion	5:50
Sean	5:52
Cirque	6:01
Luca	6:08
Russell	6:08
Wil	6:11

Overall, I feel really good about this group - very fit, very motivated, and positive team energy so far.  There's lots of work to do before we're ready to compete with the best in our league, but I really think this team has the potential to take Bowdoin Nordic to another level.  Can't wait!